Rennell Rodd
Sir James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, GCBG CMG GCVO PC (9 November 1858 - 26 July 1941) was an English poet who served as a British diplomat and politician. Life Youth Rodd was the only son of Major James Rennell Rodd (1812–1892) and his wife Elizabeth Anne Thomson, daughter of Anthony Todd Thomson. On his father's side he descended from the geographer James Rennell. Rodd was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and Balliol College, Oxford (where he was associated with the circle of Oscar Wilde). Wilde later assisted Rodd in securing publication for his first book of verse, Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf, for which Wilde provided an introduction. As Wilde began to court scandal in his public career, their friendship subsequently cooled. Diplomat Rodd entered the Diplomatic Service in 1883 and served in minor positions at the British embassies in Berlin, Rome, Athens and Paris. From 1894 to 1902 he worked under the Consul-General of Egypt, Lord Cromer. Rodd played an important part in negotiating the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897 with Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. In 1902 he returned to the embassy in Rome, where he remained for the next 2 years. From 1903 to 1906 he headed the U.K. committee to raise funds to purchase and restore the Keats-Shelley House museum in Rome.History, Keats-Shelley House. Web, Feb. 27, 2013. In 1904 Rodd was made Minister plenipotentiary to Sweden] (and until November 1905, Norway), but did not arrive until 17 January 1905. He played an active and neutral part in the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. After the secession he continued as a Minister in Sweden until 1908. The latter year he was appointed Ambassador to Italy. He was to remain in this post until 1919, and played a key role in securing Italy's adhesion to the Entente cause. Rodd left the Diplomatic Service in 1919 but nonetheless served on the mission to Egypt in 1920 with Lord Milner and was British delegate to the League of Nations from 1921 to 1923. He also sat as Unionist Member of Parliament for St Marylebone between 1928 and 1932. Family Lord Rennell of Rodd married Lilias Georgina Guthrie, daughter of James Alexander Guthrie, in 1894. They had 4 sons and 2 daughters. His 3ird son, Peter Rodd, married author Nancy Mitford, daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and one of the famous Mitford sisters. His eldest daughter, Evelyn Violet Elizabeth Rodd, was a Conservative politician and was created a life peer as Baroness Emmet of Amberley in 1965. His 2nd daughter, Hon. Gloria Rodd, married painter Simon Elwes, by whom she had 4 sons, including portrait painter Dominick Elwes. Lord Rennell died in July 1941, aged 82. He was succeeded in the barony by his 2nd but eldest surviving son, Francis James Rennell Rodd, who later served as President of the Royal Geographical Society. Writing Apart from his diplomatic services Rodd was also a published poet and a scholar of ancient Greece and Rome. He published his memoirs, entitled Social and Diplomatic Memories, in 3 volumes between 1922 and 1925. His diaries were published in 1981 by Torsten Burgman, and edited by Victor Lal in 2005. Recognition Rodd won the Newdigate Prize in 1880 for a poem on Sir Walter Raleigh.Rodd, James Rennell (1858-1941), Mr-Oscar-Wilde.de. Web, Feb. 28, 2017. Rodd was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1897, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1899, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1905, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1915, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1920 New Year Honours. He was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1908 and in 1933 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rennell, of Rodd in the County of Hereford. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star by King Oscar II of Sweden. Publications Poetry *''Newdigate Prize Poem: Raleigh; recited in the Theatre, June 9, 1880''. Oxford, UK: T. Shrimpton & Son, 1880.Newdigate prize poem. Raleigh. Recited in the theatre, June 9, 1880, by Rennell Rodd, Searchworks, Feb. 28, 2017. *[https://archive.org/details/cu31924013539501 Songs in the South]. London: David Bogue, 1881. *[https://www.archive.org/details/roseleafapplelea00roddrich Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf] (with introduction by Oscar Wilde). Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart, 1882; Portland, ME: T.B. Mosher, 1906. *[https://archive.org/details/poemsinmanylands00rodd Poems in Many Lands]. London: David Bogue, 1883. *[https://archive.org/details/fedawithotherpo00roddgoog Feda, with other poems, chiefly lyrical]. London: David Stott, 1886. *[https://archive.org/details/unknownmadonnaot00rodd The Unknown Madonna, and other poems]. London: David Stott, 1888. *[https://archive.org/details/violetcrownsongs00roddrich The Violet Crown, and Songs of England]. London: David Stott, 1891. *''Ballads of the Fleet and other poems. London: Edward Arnold, 1897. *''Myrtle and Oak. Boston & Chicago: Forbes, 1902. *''War Poems, with some others''. London: Edward Arnold, 1940.War poems with some others / by Lord Rennell of Rodd, Trove, National Library of Australia. Web, Feb. 28, 2017. . Non-fiction * A Treatise on the Comparative Geography of Western Asia. London: C.J.G.& F. Rivingston, 1853.A Treatise on the Comparative Geography of Western Asia (1853), Internet Archive, July 26. 2012. * [https://archive.org/details/frederickcrownpr00rodduoft Frederick, Crown Prince and Emperor: A biographical sketch dedicated to his memory]. New York: Macmillan, 1888.Frederick, Crown Prince and Emperor; (1888), Internet Archive, July 26. 2012. * [https://archive.org/details/customsloreofmod00rodduoft The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece]. London: David Stott, 1892. * [https://archive.org/details/socialdiplomatic01rodduoft Sir Walter Raleigh]. London & New York: Macmillan, 1904. * [https://archive.org/details/princesachaiaan00roddgoog The Princes of Achaia and the Chronicles of Morea: A study of Greece in the middle ages]. (2 volumes), London: Edward Arnold, 1907. Volume I, Volume II *''The Protestant Burial-Ground in Rome: The preservation of the graves of Keats and Shelley''. London & New York: Macmillan, 1913. *''The Italian People''. London: Humphrey Milford, for the British Academy, 1919. *''Social and Diplomatic Memories, 1884-1919''. London: Edwin Arnold *''First series: 1884-1893. 1922. **Second series: 1894-1901, Egypt and Abyssinia. 1923. **Third series: 1902-1919. 1925. Translated *Love, Worship, and Death: Some renderings from the 'Greek Anthology'.'' London: E. Arnold, 1916. Edited *[https://archive.org/details/englishmaningree00rodduoft The Englishman in Greece: Being a collection of verse of many English poets.] (edited with introduction). Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1910. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:James Rennell Rodd 1941, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 28, 2017. See also *List of British poets References *''The Dictionary of National Biography, 1941-1950'' (edited by Legg, L.G. Wickham, Williams, E.T). Oxford University Press, 1959. Notes External links ;Poems *"A Song of Autumn" *from "In Excelsis" *Rennell Rodd in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "A Roman Mirror," "Actea," "Imperator Augustus," "The Daisy," "When I Am Dead," "Then and Now" ;Prose * ;About *Rodd, James Rennell (1858-1941) at Mr. Oscar Wilde Category:1858 births Category:1941 deaths Category:English poets Category:English diplomats Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Category:UK MPs 1924–1929 Category:UK MPs 1929–1931 Category:UK MPs 1931–1935 Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Category:Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Sweden